Julia Medew

Former Australian High Court Judge Michael Kirby has called on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to use his conservatism to help break a "deadly logjam of inaction" on HIV and AIDS around the world.

In his opening address to the 20th International AIDS conference in Melbourne, Mr Kirby said Mr Abbott, as “a conviction politician and unabashed conservative”, could reach out to political leaders at the coming G20 summit in Brisbane and in the meetings of the Commonwealth of Nations to “break the deadly logjam of inaction or wrong actions” in HIV policy.

“Many of those who have left the taps of infection still open are more likely to listen to him than to others that talk a language that they abhor,” Mr Kirby said on Sunday night.

“Conservatives, you see, can be vital allies in the struggle against AIDS. We should never forget that it was President George W. Bush in the United States who established the PEPFAR Fund and promoted the Global Fund that has helped save millions of vulnerable lives.”

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Shortly before the ceremony, Mr Kirby told a press conference that Russia and countries in the Middle East and Africa must be named and shamed for taking money for HIV treatment while refusing to change laws that fuel HIV epidemics.

After paying tribute to six people who died on their way to the conference in the MH17 disaster, including past president of the International AIDS Society, Joep Lange, Mr Kirby praised Mr Abbott’s track record on HIV/AIDS policy in Australia and encouraged him to do more.

He said that as health minister from 2003 to 2007, Mr Abbott “steadfastly maintained adherence to the established consensus policies on AIDS’’.

"When some parliamentary colleagues proposed an end to the highly successful needle exchange scheme that has virtually eliminated HIV among injecting drug users, he sided with the angels and refused to change," Mr Kirby said.

Mr Abbott, he said, was also the first prime minister of Australia to acknowledge that the current “war on drugs" strategy can never be won, but added that Mr Abbott was still “disinclined to surrender and seek”.

“The government knows that viruses can enter this country far more easily than boats. They realise that it is in our interests, as much as those of others, to help our neighbours to reverse the pandemic in their own lands.”

Mr Kirby, who recently worked for the Global Commission on HIV and the Law and was a member of the inaugural WHO Global Commission on AIDS, urged delegates of the conference to redouble their efforts to fight HIV in memory of those lost en route to the meeting.

"They would expect us to pick up our shattered spirits. They would demand that we renew and redouble our efforts," he said.

"They would see those efforts as small but vital pieces of the great human puzzle that seeks to build a world that respects human rights, and heralds the day when the suffering of AIDS will be over."